Better late than never! An idiom attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer in 1386, which is found within The Yeoman’s Tale, which in turn is found in The Canterbury Tales. Relevant because it’s late August and I am only just writing the April update now. Eek. Also, and forgive the loose connection, relevant because I moved my birding focus from the woods around Canterbury to the wetlands of Canterbury in April.
Having said that, my first April outing was to Dungeness on the 2nd to catch up with a birding friend and early arriving spring migrants, which included four little ringed plover, sand martin, swallow, black redstart, and a stunning white wagtail.
After this, my Easter break involved a trip to see my dad, who now lives in southern Scotland. En-route there was a brief reunion with two birding friends in the Peak District. Over the week highlights included: displaying goshawk; sky dancing hen harriers; singing wheatear and willow warblers; nesting raven; migrating ring ouzel; dazzling dippers; dapper goosanders; calling common sandpiper; and sand martins’ nest prospecting on the edge of an upland stream (hence their alternative name of bank martin). A few hours at Caeraverlock WWT whilst my wife explored nearby Dumfries allowed me catch up with the last of the wintering barnacle geese and a few tree sparrows that occur around the reserve.
Back in Kent, my attention focused on searching for breeding evidence of marsh harrier, shoveler, and other UK RBBP species, whilst also shifting efforts to look for scare migrants at the month’s end. Highlights included a cracking adult purple heron, singing grasshopper warbler, more migrating ring ouzel, and the first spring sightings of the common summer visitors. The orchestra of early morning bird song shifted in volume and complexity as the month progressed, which I love as it creates a natural comfortable rhythm of the season progressing.
The birding activities at the end of April and start of May were curtailed by Covid. Having dodged it for a little over two years, both myself and my wife caught it.
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